I realised after posting my message about pull-down quantity
lists in an 'edit cart' page, that I can't use them in my
shop.
That said, I am still interested in how a shop interface might
be different if items were only ever available in small quantities
such as up to 10 (e.g., paintings, prints with small editions,
limited edition or one-of-a-kind jewellery).
I'm currently working on the jewellery part of my shop. I
tend not to make more than 10 of any design. My designs are
typically limited to 1-3 items. If I only sold jewellery, I
think the pull-down list for editing quantities is valid.
When posting here earlier, I'd forgotten about the books I'd
also be selling in unlimited quantities!
In the cases of a shop of limited edition items, an item can
become 'out of stock', 'low stock' or 'sold' as soon as a
visitor puts it in their shopping cart. And the nature of the
items mean that they cannot be put on back order (just read
William's reply).
I wondered what people thought of some other general shop
issues for shops which only sell items in small quantities.
For example, using pull-down lists to select quantities
when browsing a shop when there's more than one available
of an item. Here's what one might see on my browse list:
Gold necklace $50 [1] [Add]
(pull-down list contains 1 and 2)
When there's only one of something available, I don't have
a pull-down list but just the [Add] button:
Gold necklace $50 [Add]
I'm wondering if it would be better to instead replace the
pull-down list with the text "1".
I've also added icons/text after item names to show when it
is limited edition, a best-seller or if there's just one
remaining.
Finally, I wish shops would show when an item is already in
my cart when I'm browsing the shop. So, when a visitor views
a list of items in my shop, items they've put in their cart
are formatted differently. If they've got all the available
items in their cart, the Qty/Add is replaced with "[number]
in your basket". Otherwise this text is underneath the 'Add'
button.
I've made screen-shots of my work-in-progress for those who
might be interested to see what I'm talking about:
http://www.limitless.co.uk/~paola/tmp/chi-web/cart/
I use my own sites to explore and experiment with new ideas.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
Paola
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